Emma Thompson Cast as Mrs. Potts in ‘Beauty and the Beast’

The cast for the upcoming live-action version of Beauty and the Beast is impressive enough as it is, but the latest cast member addition is making us even more excited for the film than we already were! According to Variety, Emma Thompson has been cast as the matriarchal figure, Mrs. Potts, in the upcoming remake, and considering her track record, we could not be more thrilled.

Emma joins Emma Watson, who will play Belle in the film, as well as Luke Evans who will play Gaston and Kevin Kline who is set to play Belle's inventor father, Maurice. Dan Stevens has reportedly been in talks to play the Beast, despite earlier reports that the studio was hoping for Ryan Gosling to sign on for the role.

One of our favorite parts of this story is the simple fact that Emma Thompson and Emma Watson will be reuniting onscreen once again. Both of them starred in the Harry Potter films, though Watson had a much larger role than Thompson. Still, if Thompson's past work is anything to go by (and, hello, Love Actually, An Education and also everything else she's ever been in, pretty much), it's bound to be a fantastic adaptation.

Beauty and the Beast is following in the footsteps of a few other Disney movies -- Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland -- that were remade into live-action versions.The film is currently slated for a March 17, 2017 release date -- so it's still quite a ways away, but that doesn't mean we're not totally amped up for it!